


Prom Night

by Nitrobot



Category: OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes
Genre: Angst and Feels, Carol at da prom what feelings with she repress, Dancing, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-30
Updated: 2019-11-30
Packaged: 2021-02-25 22:00:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,762
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21622636
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nitrobot/pseuds/Nitrobot
Summary: It's junior prom night at K.O.'s school, with Carol tagging along to chaperone. Her ex is also there. She spectacularly fails to ignore him.
Relationships: Carol/Laserblast (OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes), Carol/Professor Venomous (OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 65





	Prom Night

**Author's Note:**

> I haven't seen a lot of O.K K.O but my BFF likes Laserspark so I wrote this for her.

K.O. was adamant that they get to the school on time- not early, not late, precisely on time- because apparently that was when Dendy said she’d be there, and she was usually pretty exact whenever she decided to show up somewhere (never mind how much convincing it apparently took to get her to come to something like this in the first place). Carol didn’t mind waiting in the car with him, for that eager moment when 17:59 became 18:00 right on the dot.

What she _did_ mind was seeing who else was waiting to head inside... with how his skin matched the moonlight, she almost didn’t see him at all. Only Fink gave him away, hiding partway behind his dress pants with a hiss at anyone who came near. And once she _did_ see him, he was impossible to ignore. He’d always been like that, even before-

“Supervillain alert!” K.O. must have followed her gaze, cause now he was wrenching at door on her side of the car, trying to break out to get at his father for the crime of trying to ruin this night for both of them. Resisting the temptation to just let him go, Carol rolled her eyes and plucked him up by the collar of his tuxedo to set him back down on his seat, and congratulated herself for getting child-safe locks.

“Ah ah, K.O., remember what I told you,” she tutted. “No fighting. This whole school is a ‘no PVP’ zone until morning.” It was a fairly recent rule put in place around Original County, thanks to one too many incidents of kids using their powers to eliminate rivals for the prestigious titles of Prom King and Queen. As soon as anyone entered, they were fitted with a power-limiter bracelet that could only be removed by whoever put it on. 

Not that her K.O. would ever do such a thing as cheating. He just pouted at her, so that his mouth almost took up half his face, and tilted his head. “Whassat mean again?”

“Means we can’t kick the tar out of them tonight. Don’t wanna mess up your suit, after all.” She patted his head, fixing some of his hair neatly back under his red headband. It was the one concession she’d given him tonight, in return for him agreeing to wear shoes for once. The last thing she wanted was him getting trampled toes while trying to dance, so she’d practically lashed them to his feet with the laces (and he’d thank her for it tomorrow, she was sure).

Well, that _had_ been the last thing she wanted, until she saw Professor Venomous- who, by the way, was completely overdressed for a junior prom. Now the last thing was him being anywhere near her, or their- _her_ son. What the hell was he doing here, anyway? Fink didn’t go to school here- or anywhere, as far as she knew. The whole thing reeked of a trap, yet what would someone like Venomous gain by trying something evil here? He couldn’t even get in the place without having to get his power drained. If he was trying to pull off a heist or something, he’d be going home with nothing more than the twelve battered textbooks in the whole school (thank you for that, OC public funding priorities).

Carol closed her eyes, forcing herself to not look at him, or think of him like she was still a hero. It was none of her business. Hadn’t been for years. She’d only arrived in the parking lot five minutes ago, and she already wanted to go home.

But she couldn’t. She was here to chaperone, after all. And like hell was she letting her boy go in there with _him_ , with **_them_** , without some kind of supervision.

“Mommy, the clock! It’s time, let’s go, let’s _gooo_!”

With K.O. pulling her out onto the pavement (since she forgot to lock his side of the car), it wasn’t like she really had a choice anyway.

“Alright, alright, pumpkin, I’m coming!” She laughed and kept her eyes on him, letting him pull her inside the building that had housed many a conference with his teachers, moving too fast to even linger anymore on the fact that Venomous was here. If he saw her, she didn’t notice. Or care.

Inside the school, K.O. seemed to home in on where to find Dendy. She was in the hall just outside the auditorium, in front of the power detectors (like for metal, but instead it measured power level the same way Pow Cards did) with a whole network of buttons floating around in front of her backpack.

“Ah, K.O. Perfect timing. I’m impressed.” Dendy tapped some of the keys nearest to her, and the coding network dissolved as her backpack started churning out thin rings of steel that filled up the trays laid out around her. “There we go,” she chirped. “Final build of the limiter bracelets is complete.”

“Woah, Dendy, _you_ made these?” K.O. couldn’t help himself from picking up a whole handful and spinning them around his fingers. Carol knew her son’s friend well enough that she wasn’t surprised she’d manage a technological feat; she was just impressed that something so small could supposedly cripple anyone’s power level.

“Correct.” Dendy closed up her backpack and gently swatted K.O.’s wrist so he’d stop goofing around with her hard work. “I’m the only one the principal trusts to make sure that none of them will be sabotaged to not work for certain students in the school. I was doing final debugging on the limiting software in the last few minutes. Now that you’re here, I can officially deploy them. Here’s one I made special for you.” She revealed a red bracelet, with a blue indicator light that flashed as she clamped it around the same wrist she’d slapped away.

“Cool! It matches my headba- w _ooooah_!” He shivered so hard that his lineart wobbled out of his colors. “That feels _weird_...”

“Not to worry,” Dendy reassured. “That’s just the metal alloy conducting with the surface of your skin and drawing your power level down. If you’re going in I’ll need to fit you with one too, Ms. K.O.” The girl held out a simple silver one to Carol, and she held her wrist out in turn.

“Go ahead. Just make sure the purple creep outside gets one too.” Carol gritted her teeth as the bracelet sent tiny electric shocks around her arm, and she felt her strength slowly sapping away.

“Is he similar to the ‘purple creep’ who’s right behind you?” Dendy asked, pointing past Carol just as the woman turned around. Venomous didn’t even flinch from the fist that reflexively came flying towards his face, only stopped by Carol at the last second. Not out of choice, but because the limiter wouldn’t let her finish the attack. She could only keep her fist hanging there, an inch from his face, so that she could only see his smirk.

“I like the new jewellery,” he told her, tilting his head just like K.O. had done, forcing her to see the rest of his face- the eyes, the nose, the pitch-black hair. “Really brings out your eyes. Oh, and hello there, K.O.”

“You stay away from my mommy!” K.O. had moved in front of Carol, jumping up and down to try and catch Venomous’ attention.

“Back off from the boss-man, bozo!” Fink was doing the same in front of Venomous, until they were between the two adults trying to swat at each other.

“My, they’re both so full of energy tonight,” Venomous laughed, only glancing down at the squabbling kids. “Remind you of anyone?” His smirk morphed into a smile. A lot of people thought that a smirk and a smile were the same thing; but with him, Carol could always tell the difference between the two. 

She didn’t smile back. She lowered her fist, unclenching it only so she could take her son’s free hand and wrench him away from the two villains. “Come on, K.O.” This time she was the one pulling him along, past the silent power detectors and into the auditorium.

“I’ll join you soon, K.O.!” Dendy called out after them, hopefully barricading Fink and Venomous from following right behind.

The auditorium was mostly empty, only having other chaperones and teachers walking around this early in the evening. Carol was sure it would fill quickly, and the noise from the speakers and heat from the crowd would be stifling, and the food on the tables would be subpar yet also gone before the prom was even half over. So many things changed, but a junior prom was always the same. She was sure she even recognised the decorations, the cardboard stars and rented dancefloor, from her own so many years ago. Like everything, history and memories, was constantly recycled. She hoped that wasn’t true. For K.O.’s sake, she desperately hoped.

“Guess we’ve got the whole place to ourselves until everyone else gets here, huh?” She looked down at her son, and he was still holding onto her hand that was a loose fist around his fingers. Their limiter bracelets clinked together, a reminder that this was supposed to be somewhere peaceful. Somewhere that the labels of hero and villain didn’t matter so much, just for one night. It was easy enough for the kids to buy into- well, most of the kids. From his bowed head and silence, Carol’s boy didn’t seem so convinced.

“I thought you said no fighting tonight, Mom,” he mumbled, tightening his hand around hers so that it matched the fist she’d tried to fire at Venomous. He was disappointed, that much she could tell. Because she’d tried to hit Venomous despite her own orders, or because she _hadn’t_ hit him? That was a lot harder to decipher.

“I did say that,” she admitted. “And I was right. Mommy just… sometimes forgets. With certain people.”

“D’you hate Professor Venomous, Mom?”

Carol knew her mouth was open, but nothing would come out. First she had to juggle between what she wanted to say and what she thought K.O. wanted to hear. Usually those two things lined up perfectly, but now… Venomous complicated everything. And for as long as he was around, existing as K.O.’s father, he always would.

“It’s hard to, sweetie,” Carol told him. “After all, without him, I wouldn’t have you.” She leaned down to pinch his cheek, stretching his face in that way that always made him giggle, but this time his frown only ended up deformed by her efforts.

“I hate him,” he declared as Carol let go of him. “For making you worry for so long. For being a villain when he should’ve been as good a hero as you.”

Carol blinked, kneeling there on the hard gym floor, only dimly aware of the other families starting to trickle into the auditorium. She felt her tongue probing the gap in her teeth unconsciously, as it always did when she didn’t know what to say. Really, she’d never thought she’d been that great a hero to begin with, but she could never tell him something like that. She just wanted her boy- her amazing, kind and generous boy- to be happy with himself. To not let himself become someone he wasn’t. Someone like his father- the man he was now, rather than the man she’d fallen in love with.

“Oh, K.O…” Her hands braced on his shoulders. “You might feel like that now. But a sweet boy like you shouldn’t be hating anyone. Even someone like Venomous.”

“K.O.!” Dendy called out from near the stage at the front of the room, waving her hand over. “Come see the light program I set up before the principal gets here.”

Carol squeezed her son’s shoulders tightly. “You and Dendy go and have fun, okay? Don’t let him ruin this evening for you.”

K.O.’s frown had gone, but his eyes still crinkled with worry. “But what about you?”

Carol blinked, and couldn’t help but laugh. Not for the first time, he was trying to be the parent here. “I’ll be just fine, pumpkin. Even without a limiter, there’s nothing he can do to hurt me.” Nothing he could do anymore, at least. “Go on. I’ll be right here.” She stood up and nudged him on, until he took a deep breath and marched into the swelling crowd of kids to find Dendy.

Only once he had been absorbed into the safety of numbers did Carol let herself look around for Venomous. Just to see if he’d managed to get in. If he was up to something. If he was looking for her too.

There he was, at the other end of the hall; arms crossed and back against the wall, still looking ludicrously overdressed in that stupid business suit. Unlike outside, the shadows indoors did little to hide him. It was like his poisoned skin was fluorescent, a big blinding sign telling everyone ‘hey, what’s up, I’m evil.’ At least it seemed to keep everyone away from him; a Venomous exclusion zone. No sign of his lab rat near him, either…

When her eyes returned to him, he was looking at her. Maybe just cause she was looking at him. He inclined his head, as if gesturing her to come over. She did, but not at all because he wanted her to. Because she seemed to be the only one there who knew he had to be watched closely. At first she hesitated outside the exclusion zone, where the auditorium lights overhead didn’t quite manage to reach, quickly scanning for any traps or trickery. After a moment Venomous gave her an exasperated look, like he thought she was scared of him. That was enough to make her stamp all over the distance left between them, throwing herself against the wall he was sinking against so that she was right next to him.

…Now what? She looked over at his wrist, slightly relieved to see a limiter bracelet like her own. Though, his powers were all money, and science, and deception. How could a simple bracelet limit any of that? All the more reason to watch him like a hawk. And find out the immortal question of why he was even here, if not just to rattle her.

“Never thought I’d see the likes of _you_ here,” Carol huffed, mirroring his pose just to keep her hands where she could see them.

Venomous shook himself, as if he hadn’t even noticed she was so close by until she spoke. Then he shrugged. “Fink insisted on coming. She likes these cute kid events, y’know.” He freed one of his folded arms to point out across the mass of kids. There was Fink scurrying around the floor, purposefully tripping kids up as she flitted between spotlights. Nothing evil- just chronic mischief.

“Though,” Venomous went on, “I myself can’t say the same for you, Carol. This kind of place seems to suit you.”

“And what is _that_ supposed to mean?” Carol snapped her head around in demand of an explanation, which he gave with another lazy shrug.

“Tacky. Juvenile. Not nearly enough punch to go around.”

Her fist came out again, hanging by her side as she closed in on him. “I got plenty of punch for you _right here_ if you don’t shut up right n-!“

Venomous laughed, a rough sound from the depth of his lungs. Of course, he knew by now that she couldn’t actually hit him, like he couldn’t hit her. That was the only reason they were even so close together. “As feisty as ever, I see.” He said it like it was meant as praise, as he wiped a purple tear from his eyes. “Gotta wonder how much of that silver spark of yours K.O. has.”

Carol felt her jaw stiffen, the teeth within set like bricks cemented together. “He’s got a lot more of me than anything _you_ ever gave him.”

Something in Venomous’ eyes glittered, something that pissed Carol off more than she could handle. But before he could say something she’d make him regret, a voice piped up from the ground.

“Boss!”

Venomous clamped his mouth closed, the smartest decision he’d ever made in front of Carol, and looked down to see his lab rat tugging at his leg. “Oh. What is it, Fink?”

Carol hadn’t noticed before, but the little green thing was actually wearing a dress for the prom- purple fabric, darker than Venomous’ skin, with twinkling rhinestones sewn in. It wasn’t quite as ostentatious as her boss’ outfit, but it was a definite step-up from the usual lab coat she always wore. “I wanna drink but the table is too high!” she complained, shaking her bare hands in fury.

“I told you to bring your stepladder,” Venomous told her.

“I _did,_ but someone stole it!”

Venomous rolled his eyes, resting them on Carol as if she knew exactly how he was feeling. “Fine.” He pushed himself off the wall, and went off with Fink to give her the all-important lift up to the snack table. As soon as he was gone, with not even his purple glow visible, Carol punched herself. Even if it was supposed to be a hard hit, it was automatically softened by the bracelet forcibly relaxing her muscles. But it was enough to clear her head.

‘ _Get it together, Carol... he’s not worth it. Whatever ‘it’ is supposed to be here. You gotta set an example for-’_ Just as she was thinking of her son, he ran up to her with a breathless grin.

“Don’t worry, Mommy,” he gasped, “Me and Dendy’ll keep an eye on Fink while you keep Venomous cornered. Look, I even swiped her latest supervillain device!” He revealed something from behind his back; a folded stepladder. Carol snorted, hiding her laugh in her hand while the other patted K.O.’s head.

“That’s a good boy, K.O.! Go run and hide it somewhere safe while I… er, deal with the Professor!” K.O. nodded so hard that his head might have popped off if he didn’t hold it in place with the ladder over his head, as he ran back into the prom crowd. She watched him disappear again, only looking away when Venomous’ toxic glow announced his return. Fink hadn’t followed him, but he’d brought back glass of something fruity for himself.

“She drank half the bowl,” he said offhandedly, “so hopefully she won’t be thirsty for the rest of the night.”

Carol made a sound, like she was just putting up with him instead of listening to anything. “How’d you get her into a dress?” she asked, actually curious since Fink hadn’t exactly looked comfortable in it.

Venomous sipped, his glass hiding a smile that was otherwise given away by the tilt of his cheeks. “Same way you likely got K.O. into a tuxedo. With great difficulty.”

“He was excited about it, actually,” she corrected. “Picked it out himself. Even agreed to wear shoes for once.” She didn’t know why she told him all that. She just felt like she had to, to correct whatever image he had in his head of what the family he’d abandoned was like without him. Because it was none of his business. None at all.

Something annoyingly innocent and upbeat was playing from the speakers around the hall, but that wasn’t what was making Carol grind her teeth. Beside her, Venomous was laughing again. Muffled snorts he tried and failed to catch between his teeth, like he both wanted and didn’t want them to be heard.

“What’s so funny?” she demanded, fixing her hands on her hips. Venomous coughed, pounding his chest like he was choking on something.

“Just… nothing,” he spluttered. “It’s nothing.”

“Nothing I’d find funny too?” she challenged. She didn’t doubt that, but she still wanted to know, and she’d keep looking expectedly at him until he explained. That was how it had always happened; they’d stare each other out until one caved in. Even after a decade apart, it still somehow worked; Venomous cleared his throat as looked away from her.

“It’s just… what K.O. is wearing. It’s similar to what I always imagined for me.” He sipped his drink, sighing as it slid down his hoarse throat. “For our wedding.”

Carol quite suddenly found herself floating, just for a second, before realising solid ground was still under her boots. That was how quickly she’d lost her balance, and how quickly she’d regained it. Venomous, thankfully, didn’t seem to notice the slip at all. Or maybe he was just too polite to notice. But then, why would he say something that he absolutely knew would make her lose focus? Something like _that_?

Because he was evil. Times like this, she had to keep remembering that fact before it made her do stupid things.

“You never proposed,” she pointed out, which for her logically lead to the likely assumption that he never intended to. He was lying. That was all. Lying to get her guard down and… do whatever it was that evil ex-boyfriends did.

Venomous laughed again, a much more compact sound that lasted only as long as it took for him to exhale. “That was part 2 of my ‘genius’ plan to make you mine forever. With how part 1 turned out… well. You know all that already.” He lifted his cup to his mouth, yet didn’t actually drink anything as he kept it there. Just an excuse to not talk anymore. Carol would have killed for one of those for herself, but she was just glad that Venomous had shut himself up. It was like he had no idea how to speak without sarcasm, like he’d completely forgotten to be anything other than… villainous. Which didn’t really surprise her any more.

“Gimme back my equipment, Mommy’s Boy!” Towards the crowded dancefloor, Fink barrelled out and tried to grab K.O.’s ankle just as he snatched himself out of her grip.

“I am not a Mommy’s Boy!” he yelled over the music. “I am a Mommy’s MAN! And how come you never got a bracelet? Did you get it off somehow? That’s against the rules!”

“I DIDN’T GET ONE CAUSE I DON’T HAVE POWERS NOW GIMME MY LADDER BACK OR I’LL CRY!” Fink might have caused a sonic effect with her screech, if not for Dendy coming up from behind to clamp something over her mouth and save everyone’s eardrums.

Despite her company, Carol couldn’t help but smile. Heroes were always heroes, even the pint-sized ones. And good kids would always outnumber the bad ones. But good adults… they would always be hard to find. Hard to keep around. She glanced over at Venomous, seeing that he’d lowered his half-full fruit punch. He was watching Fink’s predicament too, but not moving to intervene. He just sighed and swirled his drink.

“Still don’t know how Fink ended up like that.” He sounded like it was supposed to be a mystery he’d been trying to figure out for years. The real question should have been what Fink was _supposed_ to be, but then again that would be kinda rude to ask. 

“Like what?” Carol asked. “An annoying toddler covered in fur?” She smirked, but then he copied her right back.

“Now now, don’t be so hard on yourself. If I recall, you were just like her back-“

“Don’t.” Carol held up a hand- not a fist, just a single finger- telling him to stop while he was ahead. “Don’t you dare.” Her breath was heavy as it whistled through her front teeth, the sound that always got on her last nerve when she was already as pissed off as she could be. The sound that Laserblast had always known to fear.

Venomous didn’t look scared. He just looked… she didn’t know what to call it. Frowning. Eyes down, not looking at her. Anyone else might have looked sad that way, but that word didn’t make sense on someone like him. 

“Didn’t mean to upset you,” he muttered. “Honest. It’s just… nowadays, I don’t have much to keep me happy. Not like how I used to.”

Carol narrowed her eyes. “And whose fault is that?”

“Mine’s.” He must have seen her shock at him actually admitting it, from the smile that flashed for just a moment. “Hence why it’s so hard to stay happy.” He looked at her, like he was waiting for her to say something. Something like… what? Why was everyone expecting her to know exactly what to say tonight? For her son, she could eventually come up with something worth saying, but for Venomous, for someone like him, she was better off just pretending he wasn’t even there. Cause he wasn’t worth it. ‘It’ being… everything. Anything. Anything she could give him.

That was what he was waiting for. Something like bait, or a hook to draw himself in and ruin her once again.

Never again. 

She didn’t look at him. To her, he wasn’t there. But then, a minute later, he suddenly re-appeared with a sigh, leaning over to force himself into the peripheral vision whether she wanted him there or not.

“Do you want me to leave, Carol?” he asked. “I just came to keep Fink under control, but K.O. seems to be keeping her in line. She can find her own way back to the lab. I’ll happily leave you all to it and go do some supervillain business instead. Just say the word.”

Carol snapped her eyes over to him, seeing him properly now, and as soon as he came into focus her anger evaporated. He wasn’t smirking. His eyes, those stupid eyes that still looked like Laserblast’s, weren’t glittering at her. And there, right there in the pit of his voice, was no sarcasm. None at all. She wanted to find it, to have a reason to spit at him and tell him to go, yet he was giving her nothing.

Of all the times for him to be sincere… he must have known. Known what she would be thinking, calculated what her reaction would be down to a fine point, to use it to his advantage. He _must_ have, because that was exactly what Venomous would do to everyone and anyone lying in his way.

Yet she knew he was waiting for an answer, one that he couldn’t predict because she had never made herself predictable. She could banish him from here with just one word and then forget about him, at least until she got home.

Did she want that? Of course she did. So why couldn’t she say it?

…Because it wasn’t the truth. The truth had almost destroyed her family, everything she’d built for herself out of what he’d left her with, yet she couldn’t let go of it. She gulped, and knew that she’d regret what she had to say. But she’d regret _not_ saying it even more. 

“I don’t want you to _leave,_ Venomous,” Carol sighed as she faced him. “I just... want you to not be evil.”

A tiny, microscopic smile twitched on Venomous’ mouth. “A little late for that. But since we’re on the subject of things coming too late…” He looked away, needing a moment to overcome something that flitted through him like a tremor. “I’m… I’m sorry. If I’d had a choice, I’d-”

Carol whirled on him again, sending him back against the wall where he couldn’t escape from her. “You _did_ have a choice,” she hissed. “And you _chose_ to let me think you were dead, to let _our son_ believe…” There was another lump in her throat, one that she couldn’t swallow so easily. And her eyes- no, _no,_ not in front of him, she was _not_ going to cry-

Dammit. Dammit, she was crying. She stepped back to cover her face, but there was too much to just wipe away no matter how hard she screwed her eyelids closed. She heaved her lungs, the whistling in her teeth driving her insane as she tried to stem her eyes, and even with her back turned she couldn’t escape Venomous’ gaze.

“Here.” His voice was in her ear, and she felt something pressed into her hand when it pulled away from her damp face. It was soft, like silk, and helped to dab away the evidence of her tears. If K.O. saw her like this, he’d stay awake all night with worry. But she was fine. With Venomous’ handkerchief, the one he’d had stuck into his suit pocket like he was at some kind of royal ball, she bottled up everything else that tried to break out of her. Not tonight. Some day she’d deal with them, but not right now. Not around him.

Venomous was polite, or smart, enough not to ask if she was okay. He didn’t mention anything about it at all. Didn’t ask for the handkerchief back. He waited patiently with her in the shadows, until she’d stopped sniffling. Then he put his hand on her shoulder and spoke.

“K.O. is the only reason I don’t regret what I did as much as I should. As far as I’m concerned, he turned out a lot better without me around. That silver spark in him… it’s there. And I’m grateful for it.”

Carol let out a final shaky breath, wiping at her forehead. Whether or not Venomous meant it, she couldn’t deny that it was exactly what she needed to hear at a time like this. She could even almost believe it was from Laserblast.

“Well… there’s some things he didn’t get from me,” she gladly admitted, seeking her son out in the hall that was thankfully too busy with dancing to notice any chaperones having a breakdown. “Don’t know who taught him to dance like _that_ , for instance.” Seriously, K.O. was spinning around on the floor like someone had wound him up full of electricity and let him rip- moving so fast that Dendy was sitting back recording calculations of the whole thing. Had Rad and Enid showed him that? She’d be having a word with one of them tomorrow about teaching him moves beyond his Pow level. 

Venomous nodded, but he didn’t pay much attention to his son bowling over all his classmates. “It’s been so long since I’ve seen _you_ dance,” he mentioned, releasing his hand from her shoulder.

“Yeah. It has.” Hell, it had been so long since Carol had even seen herself on a dancefloor. She folded up the sodden handkerchief to give it back in a mostly clean state, but Venomous was holding out his hand for something else; her own.

“What’s say we show these kids how it should be done?” he asked, smirking away like nothing had ever happened. Carol looked from those filed fangs and glittering eyes too bright for his skin, to his hand that was the most inviting trap she’d seen, and made herself scoff as she shook her head and turned away.

“You just want to see me make a fool of myself,” she accused, as if she hadn’t already done a fine job of that herself.

“Here I thought it was always the other way around,” Venomous chuckled behind her. She rolled her eyes to stop them from leaking anything else, and thought that would be the end of it.

“Please?” he asked again, a moment later. When she looked back at him, he was the one holding back violet tears in his otherwise perfect eyes.

He was still waiting for her hand.

From the look in Laserblast’s eyes behind those tears, he seemed to have been waiting for a very long time.

His hand, the palm snug against hers, was surprisingly warm. She didn’t know why that was surprising. He was still human, after all. Humans were always warm. And sometimes they liked to dance together. That was all.

“Boss, are you getting arrested!? You’ll never take the both of us alive!”

“Mom, what’re you… are you a hostage?! I’ll save you-!”

“It’s fine, sweetie,” Carol called out, freezing K.O. in place as he tried to dive towards her. “We’re just having a dance.”

“You heard the lady, Fink,” Venomous added, stopping Fink in her tracks too. “It’s fine.”

The kid and lab rat stood speechless at the edge of the dancefloor, which seemed to shrink down until it only consisted of Carol and Venomous. That was what it felt like, as they faced each other. Him in his impeccable, smug, far too fitting suit, her in her basic yoga outfit. 

“Starting to wish I’d worn something a little nicer tonight,” she admitted in a hushed laugh, settling into the starting position- one hand on the back, the other on the partner- as if they’d been practising together for years. They had been, in a way. And it was hard to fall out of habit when it came crashing back to you.

“I think you look perfect,” Venomous told her, and he had no idea how much it meant to her. “One foot in front of the other, huh?”

Carol gulped back another tear. “Yeah. I remember.”

Same as training. Same as their missions. Same as the grief that she’d went through, thinking he was gone forever. She watched her feet, because she knew she couldn’t look at him without the risk of crying again.

“I miss you, Carol,” he told her, right there in her ear where she had no choice but to hear it and know that he meant it.

“I miss you too, Laser,” she whispered back.

“But not enough to fix any of this… right?”

She couldn’t bring herself to answer, but it didn’t need to be said. They both knew that no matter how powerful a hero or villain became, there was no one who could make miracles happen.

“One night,” she said on his shoulder. “Can we… have one night, at least? Where we can pretend that it’s possible?”

She felt him lean into her, then nod. “Yeah… yeah. I’d like that.”

Only by pretending that he wasn’t a villain, that he wasn’t Venomous after all, did she finally let herself hold him. She didn’t know what he was thinking of her. She supposed that it wouldn’t matter come morning. 


End file.
